My Little Pony: Friendship is Bizarre
by dragonainer
Summary: In 1988, one hundred years after his ascension to immortality, Dio Brando develops his Stand and its ability to stop time itself. However, things don't go as planned when Dio is defeated by 17 year old Jotaro Kujo. As his consciousness fades, Dio wakes up in a strange world and a strange body: that of a pony. Now, in the land of Equestria, Dio begins his quest to dominate all life.
1. Prologue: DIO's World

**Prologue: DIO's World**

It was a warm, arid night in Cairo, Egypt. The year was 1988, and a new power had awoken; one that would forever alter the universe that it resided in.

"THE WORLD!" DIO shouted, as his Stand,「THE WORLD」dutifully appeared in front of him, ready to do its users bidding. "Stop time!"

With a deafening boom like that of a cannon, all the color and motion drained from the world around him as his opponent, Jotaro Kujo, ground to a halt before his very eyes: just a few yards out of his Stand's range. DIO smirked, realizing he was now in the perfect position to finally end the roadblocks the Joestar bloodline had set in his way for one hundred years. He could hardly contain his excitement. He was a new man, no, a _god_. _The_ god of this world. He had defeated the Stardust Crusaders one by one: Avdol, Iggy, Kakyoin, Joseph, Polnareff, and now, only Kujo, the last of the Joestars, stood in his way. It was too much to contain, and though there was no one other than his final enemy who could hear it, he took a deep breath.

"WRYYYYYYYY!" DIO cried in victory, as the clock in his mind began to tick. "One second has passed."

He took a step towards the now frozen in mid-leap Jotaro. _I know he can see and hear me._

"Two seconds have passed."

Another step. _When will he make his move?_

"Three seconds have passed."

He was just about to enter his range. _If Jotaro makes a move, it will be right now._

"Four seconds- " he was cut off as the arms of Jotaro's「STAR PLATINUM」appeared in front of him, rearing back in an attack stance. However, DIO had anticipated the attack, and easily blocked each punch with the fists of 「THE WORLD」. One last punch made contact, however, and as the fists of the two powerful Stands collided, DIO's Stand fingers shattered in a spray of blood. He winced and cried out, in more of shock than in pain, for his newfound power dulled all pain, but it left a perfect window for Jotaro to strike. 「STAR PLATINUM」's fists quickly rushed in, and though he tried his best to defend himself from the attack, DIO was struck once in the jaw, knocking him a few feet back and into the air. He quickly caught himself, hovering above his opponent.

"Five seconds have passed," he smirked again, as he continued to slowly float backwards, not attempting to right himself. "Six seconds have passed."

His hand wound had completely healed, and as he watched, shock washed over Jotaro as the boy realized that DIO's time stop had not ended, but was instead continuing.

"Seven seconds have passed!" DIO shouted as he hefted his healed wound for Jotaro to see. "I still feel the power! I can keep the time stop up!"

Jotaro curled his lip, but in his eyes, DIO saw his fear.

"And by the way, Jotaro," DIO chuckled to himself, floating towards Jotaro slowly. "You shouldn't be able to move any longer. You gambled away your two seconds, but you miscalculated. This is a truly magnificent feeling!"

As Jotaro stood, now frozen solid in the time stop, DIO floated up higher, laughing at the top of his lungs.

"Eight seconds have passed!" DIO noted, raising a finger. "One hundred years ago, I attained immortality, but I never felt as absolutely wonderful as I do now!"

With a sickening sound, DIO dug the finger into his right temple, twisting it around again and again as blood and viscera sprayed from the wound. He laughed maniacally again.

"Joestar blood suits me so well! This is the greatest high!"

DIO danced around Jotaro tauntingly, laughing all the while, but he began to feel a familiar tugging sensation.

"Nine seconds have passed! I've stopped time for nine seconds!" he boasted. "But it seems that nine seconds is my current limit."

 _I must make the most of the time I have left._

DIO unleashed his Stand's rush attack on the defenseless Jotaro, landing multiple hits and feeling Jotaro's collarbone, left arm, and several ribs crack under his fists. As began its natural course again, Jotaro was thrown backwards through as sign and into the air.

"Now, I will unleash all of my Stand's power!" DIO cried, flying after the now airborne Jotaro. "You said something about being pissed off, but your fury can achieve no more that that!"

DIO rocketed towards Jotaro, feinting a punch towards his head. When he raised「STAR PLATINUM」to counter, DIO replaced the punch with a flurry of kicks to his chest.

"MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA, MUDA!" DIO cried as he pummelled Jotaro yet again, throwing him downwards and onto a nearby bridge. DIO slowly descended towards his enemy, spreading his arms wide in victory. "And now, without a pause, my final attack! The last and final time I will need to stop time! In nine seconds, I will end all of this!"

Jotaro, as terribly injured as he might have been, attempted to rise to his feet from his prone position, but it was already too late.

"THE WORLD!" DIO cried, as the sands of time froze and time itself ground to a halt yet again. He slowly landed on the bridge, staring into Jotaro's face just a few dozen or so feet away and couldn't help but chuckle. Suddenly, he took to the skies again, searching for something he had seen earlier.

"One second has passed."

"Two seconds have passed."

"Three seconds have passed."

"Four seconds have passed."

"Five seconds have passed."

"Six seconds have passed."

 _Ah, yes. Here it is. Perfect…_

"Seven seconds have passed."

A shadow began to engulf the frozen Jotaro as DIO descended from the skies with the instrument that would play a key role in his final attack.

"ROAD ROLLER!"

With a tremendous crash, DIO slammed a 22 ton road roller down onto Jotaro. He met some resistance as Jotaro finally used his two seconds to move inside the time stop, pummeling the construction vehicle with a rush attack from below. In response, DIO brought out his own Stand, rush attacking from above. The countless "ORAS" and "MUDAS" drowned out the sound of the punches, until Jotaro neared the end of his time.

"It's too late!" cried DIO. "You cannot escape! Eight seconds have passed! I'll smash you flat!"

With one final punch from「THE WORLD」, the road roller slammed down flush with the pavement, engulfing Jotaro. There was nothing left but silence.

"Nine seconds have passed," DIO observed, finally becoming calm as he stared down at the wreckage below him. "I did it. This proves that no one can surpass DIO!"

DIO began to cackle once more.

"Puny humans! I shall rule you all! Bow before my knowledge and might!"

DIO raised his arms in victory, consulting his mental clock.

"Ten seconds have passed." He laughed again. "Now my ability to stop time has reached ten seconds. And, when I find Jotaro's body and drink his blood, it will grow even more exponentially. If there is any blood left to take, that is."

With that, DIO raised his foot to lower himself from the top of the road roller to the bridge, but something was wrong. He couldn't move. He, _DIO_ , was trapped in a time stop.

"DIO!"

It couldn't be. That was the voice of Jotaro. But he was dead: crushed flat!

"It's been eleven seconds. I guess that's your limit now."

It WAS Jotaro! But how was he alive?! DIO was just barely able to turn his head, where he could see Jotaro standing atop the road roller behind him. _HOW?_

"I stopped time at the nine seconds mark," Jotaro explained, slowly approaching DIO. "That's how I escaped."

DIO began to sweat. This _couldn't_ be happening!

"And now, it won't even take a second for me to finish you!" Jotaro growled, still growing ever closer. "How does it feel, DIO, having someone approach from behind while you can't move a muscle?"

Suddenly, he felt Jotaro's hand on his shoulder.

"For you, I feel no pity."

DIO's legs were swept out from under him as Jotaro's「STAR PLATINUM」kicked them out. As time began to move again, DIO fell from the road roller and onto the hard pavement below. Blood oozed from his knees, and he found it impossible to rise to his feet or to even hardly move at all. He lost his composure as his breathing began to become ragged and he began to sweat even more intensely, and Jotaro took a deliberate and cautious step down from the road roller.

"I don't even feel the slightest bit of compassion for you. I haven't an ounce of pity," Jotaro said as he pointed to DIO menacingly. "However, just finishing you off right now would leave a bad taste in my mouth. The moment you've healed, I'll throw「STAR PLATINUM」at you. So bring it on!"

 _He's… he's mocking me! But, Jotaro, you may have come this far, but you are still only human._

DIO couldn't help but laugh again as he began to struggle to gain his footing, blood still pouring from his leg wounds.

 _You think like a human, who has so little time left to live. You think about things leaving a bad taste in your mouth, or living life with no regrets. That kind of thinking will be your demise! I, DIO, have no such thoughts. Within my mind is but one thing: to be victorious and rule! How I do it-!_

DIO twisted one of his injured legs to the side, firing a jet of blood towards Jotaro.

 _-does not matter!_

The blood struck Jotaro straight in the eyes, covering his brow and nose and forcing him to shut his eyes.

"How do you like being blinded by blood?" DIO cried in anger, lashing out with a kick at Jotaro. "I've won! Die!"

With one last, desperate "ORA," Jotaro let go a wild punch from his Stand, and by mere chance, the two attacks collided. The two Stands stood at a standstill for what seemed like hours, until suddenly, a long crack formed in「THE WORLD」's shin. The crack quickly began to spread up the Stand's body, and in turn, DIO's body.

"Wh- whaaaaaaaaaat!?" he cried in pain and anger. "Impossible! I- I'm DIO! I! AM! DIOOOOOOO!"

With an explosion, half of DIO's body vaporized, and he fell backwards, his light evaporating into blue flames.


	2. Chapter 1: A New World and a New Body

**Chapter One: A New Body and a New Land**

It was late in the night when he drew his first breath. As his eyes opened for the first time, they slowly began to adjust to the low light and the new, small space. Additionally, something felt new. Something felt… different. Something felt… _wrong_.

With a groan, he sat upwards. His head ached and his mind was a blur of shapes, colors, and memories that were slowly being restored by the second. One name surfaced throughout the experiences flashing before his eyes: DIO. It was a strange name, he thought, but something about it was special to him. It was… his name. That was it. _He_ was DIO. His last name had long been forgotten, along with his humanity when he donned the stone mask a century ago. Now he was something different.. DIO, the most powerful being who had ever lived. Men quaked in his presence, and with just a word even the hands of time stopped for him. And now, he had cheated death once again, though this time, he had no idea how it had happened. He'd been fighting the Kujo boy: that much he remembered clear as day, but then, Jotaro's Stand had developed the ability to stop time as well. And then, through blind luck or the sheer intervention of fate,「STAR PLATINUM」's final punch had struck true.「THE WORLD」had disintegrated then, and he, DIO, had perished. He remembered the night sky fading away, and then suddenly, he was here, in this strange building. And now, he seemed to be suffering from some strange effects of the battle.

His vision seemed wider than he last remembered: it was almost as if he peripheral vision had been doubled in width. When looking straight ahead, he could just pick out the start of his shoulders in the far corners of his vision. They were strangely shaped and an odd, pale yellow color. It also seemed almost _furry_ , or covered in some sort of matted hair.

 _Perhaps its a side-effect of whatever has saved my life_ , DIO thought to himself, raising his hand to his head to grasp his temple. His head was still pounding. Instead of soft skin, something hard collided with the side of his head. If felt as if he had slid on a pair of brass knuckles and punched himself in the temple. His head spun even worse now, and he nearly fainted from the rush of blood to his brain. Sticking his arm out to steady himself, his arm caught on a nearby dresser, and he turned his head to look at the piece of furniture, letting out a gasp of surprise as he did so. The armoire was busted, covered in dust, and was lying on its back, but the disaster of a dresser was not the reason for DIO's surprise. It was, instead, the state of his arm: supporting his body was a yellow horse's foreleg, complete with a hoof.

DIO jumped to his feet, or rather, he tried to jump to his feet. He stood upright, but after just a few seconds, his knees wobbled, and he fell back to the floor again. What was going on? Had his legs not healed from his final battle? No, there was something more to it than that. He looked down at his legs, and his suspicions were confirmed: his legs were that of a horse as well.

Was this some sort of sick joke? Had Kujo supplanted his consciousness inside a horse's body to torture him? No, it couldn't be. Jotaro Kujo was not the sort of person to do something this strange. And it wasn't as if he had been trapped in the body of a dead animal. It was as if he _was_ the animal. He could feel the wind blowing against his body and the chill of the cold stone floor. He had to find a way to observe his body to see the extent of the changes.

In the corner of the small room was a cracked mirror, and DIO did his best to move towards it. In the faint moonlight, he could just make out the small outline of his body approaching the looking glass. His hair was the same: a long, flowing blonde mane, but this time, it literally was a mane. Staring back at him was the face of a horse with yellow skin, but his eyes too were the same. They glowed with golden light, and in them, DIO could see the vampiric essence of his soul circling. That was a start. If this was the body he was stuck in (for the time at least), he would make the most of it. And if vampiric essence still flowed through him, that meant that all of his old vampiric abilities still existed in this horse body.

It took a bit of time for DIO to get used to walking on four legs, but after he mastered that, the rest was simple. On just slightly shaky legs, he approached the door to the outside world, turning the knob with a cleft in his right front hoof, turning it slowly and exiting the small shack. Outside, the night air was blowing fiercely, and several thick clouds were covering the moon, drowning the small town in an eerie darkness. The town itself was strange: a model of what DIO had read about back in the 1880s about the American Western frontier. It was small, just barely over a dozen wooden buildings, including a train station and a clocktower. Seeing this, DIO couldn't help but smirk. The clocktower reminded him of Kakyoin. The boy's「HIEROPHANT GREEN」left something to be desired in power, but the user's mind had made up for that. Kakyoin had been the first of the Joestar party to figure out the power of「THE WORLD」, and for that, DIO had given him a quick death.

「THE WORLD」. DIO had completely forgotten about his Stand. He wondered if he could still use it in his new body. He focused his will, preparing to summon his Stand, but nothing happened. The mere effort put an intense amount of strain on his new form, and DIO nearly passed out once more. He steadied himself, shaking the sleepiness from his head. Just as when he first developed his Stand when he was freed from his coffin beneath the waves, it would take time for his Stand to adjust to his new body. In the meantime, he would have to bide his time and become as strong as possible. But how would he dominate the world in this body?

"Excuse me," came a voice from behind DIO. "Can I help you?"

DIO turned his head to the side, just enough to see who was talking to him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see another horse, or rather, a pony. It was quite a bit smaller than a horse. _So this world I'm in now must be populated entirely by these things_ , he thought to himself. _And I am one of them_.

"Ah, yes, perfect timing," DIO though aloud, aiming a hoof at the pony behind him. "You there. What is this place?"

"This place?" the pony questioned DIO, a confused look on his face.

"This town, you imbecile," DIO growled. He had forgotten how dense mortals could be.

"Why, this here is Appleoosa!" the pony smiled happily, seemingly ignoring the blatant insult.

 _Ah, yes,_ DIO thought. _Like the breed of horse. Whoever named this town deserves to die a slow and agonizing death._

"And, tell me, _friend_ ," he said, stressing the word friend viciously. "Who rules this _Appleoosa_?"

"Surely you know all of Equestria is ruled by Princess Celestia!" the pony chuckled, obviously thinking DIO was just another pony who was just losing his mind. "Along with her sister, Princess Luna!"

 _Equestria_. This had to be some kind of sick joke. With all the awful horse puns, this had to be the work of Old Man Joestar. But it couldn't be, could it? DIO had killed him and with his own hands had drank him dry. On top of that, DIO still possessed Jonathan Joestar's lower half and was able to use it as a radar to track Jonathan's descendants. Suddenly, however, DIO remembered something: he didn't have the body of Jonathan any longer. He was in a colorful horse's body now. A Joestar could be anywhere, and he would have no idea. It was actually terrifying. But… No! Nothing terrified DIO. He hadn't been human for over one hundred years, and that emotion was beyond him. Even if the Joestars were nearby, he would regain his former power and utterly annihilate them. Speaking of regaining power…

"I would say 'you've been most helpful,' but I don't think something like you deserves that sort of praise," DIO said flatly, slowly approaching his pony informant. "Creatures like you shouldn't even have the ability to speak. You are just an animal. You are all lower than filth."

As DIO grew closer and closer, the pony began to slink backwards as the moon appeared from behind the clouds. It silhouetted DIO in its light, revealing his long, flowing blonde mane which had now begun to billowing in the wind as if it had a mind of its own. A smile crossed his face, and the pony thought he could see fangs in DIO's mouth. As fear began to overwhelm the defenseless pony, he opened his mouth to scream, but in a flash, DIO closed the distance between them and plunged his right front hoof into the other pony's throat. He tried to scream again, but strangely, he was unable to speak as he felt the life drain from his body.

As his victim crumpled to the ground, DIO felt the rush of energy fill his body along with the warm, familiar feeling of his essence combining with blood. He was finally becoming his normal self again. He was Lord DIO, the strongest being who had ever lived and ever _would_ live. Pushing off the ground with one foot, DIO began to float in the air, only a few feet off the ground, but enough to notice. He began to laugh to himself.

"This feels good. It is only a matter of time before I am back to this full strength, then「THE WORLD」will return to me, and I will be unstoppable!"


	3. Chapter 2: A Menacing Nightmare

**Chapter Two: A Menacing Nightmare**

Princess Celestia sat up in bed with an audible gasp. Her breathing was ragged, and she began to try to hold her breath to regain control of her lungs. This wasn't like her. She wasn't accustomed to panicking. She preferred to analyze anything that scared her and think over it for hours on end until it ceased to have any effect on her. But this nightmare was different than all her other fears. She had felt fear like this only one other time in her life, and that was the night of her sister's fall into disharmony; her madness had changed her into the wicked Mare of Darkness, Nightmare Moon. Now, however, because of the efforts of (insert group name here, Mane Six sounds too weird), Luna had been freed from her jealousy.

As if on cue, Luna burst through the door, the same look of fear on her face as her sister's. She scanned the room once before trotting to her sister's bedside.

"Sister, are you alright?" Luna cried out to her sister as she approached.

"I've just had the most terrible dream!" Celestia responded, shaking her head and raising a hoof to rub her temple.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Luna responded. "You know as well as I that this was not a dream, but a vision"

There was a brief pause as the two sisters looked at each other in a state of confusion.

"Déjà vu," Celestia noted, shaking her head before moving on. "We don't have time to dwell on that."

"In your vision," Luna asked, sitting down in a nearby chair. "Did you happen to hear this pony's name or see his Cutie Mark?"

"No," Celestia said, climbing out of bed and beginning to pace around her bedchambers. "It all happened so fast. What about you?"

"Nothing, sister," Luna said. "That will make finding him harder. But at least we know his location right now."

"Appleoosa," Celestia said, pondering what the location could mean. "I don't see any significance in it."

"I've never heard of or seen anything like his power in our history," Luna said, scratching her head. "There's no precedent in our records on how to defeat him. And from what we saw, with each pony he drains, he becomes more powerful."

"It truly does seem like another Tirek," Celestia nodded, approaching the nearby window and looking out across Canterlot. "But Tirek is still safely in Tartarus."

Celestia stood in silence, looking out across her kingdom, her mind searching for solutions to the new problem for Equestria.

"Discord…" she said, barely over a whisper, but Luna's sensitive ears picked up on the single name instantly.

"Sister, surely you cannot mean that you plan to send Discord to investigate?" Luna protested, standing up from her seat and approaching Celestia near the window. "Or have you forgotten the betrayal he sowed when we sent him against Tirek?"

"I haven't forgotten, Luna," replied Celestia, still not removing her eyes from the window. "But since then, Discord has done so much good for the kingdom. And I feel that he truly repented after Tirek betrayed him."

"I trust your judgement, sister," Luna sighed. "But I don't have to like it."

Celestia turned away from the window, smiling to her younger sister.

"Have faith in your older sister, Luna," she smiled. "Now, as for Discord… I'm sure he can already hear us."

As soon as Celestia finished speaking, Luna looked back over he shoulder, and in Celestia's bed, she could pick out the form of a sleeping figure. As if on cue, the figure set up, and the blankets fell down, revealing Discord, the God of Chaos, clad in a Victorian era nightgown and cap. As he scanned the darkened chamber, he squinted a few times before producing a candlestick out of thin air, striking a match on the bottom of his goat hoof and holding it to the wick of the candle until it caught fire. Then, without hesitation, he threw the still lit match into his mouth, swallowing it hole and rising to his feet from the bed.

"Hello?" he shouted into the room, still squinting. "Who's there?"

"Discord, it is us," Luna sighed, shaking her head.

"But is it _the real_ you?" Discord squinted once more, so hard it looked as if his eyes would burst from his skull. "You could be a figment of my imagination. I have just awoken, and the time after you've just woken up is the most vulnerable time for hallucinations."

"It's _really_ us, Discord," Luna growled, approaching the draconequus. "And you're the one that just showed up in Celestia's bed!"

"Now, now. I had a heavy supper before bed, and I've been told that indigestion can make you a bit woozy. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, or a fragment of underdone potato." The last word, Discord said with a short "ah" sound.

"Pot _a_ to," Luna corrected the God of Chaos with a long "ae" sound.

"Well, you say potahto, I say patayto," Discord murmured to himself, but when he saw

the anger in Luna's eyes, he raised his hands defensively, the candlestick falling from his hand and disappearing before it hit the ground. "Oh, lighten up, Princess. Everyone needs to have a little fun every once and a while ( _especially when you've been alone for a thousand years_ ), but if that's how you want to be, I'll allow it."

With a snap of his fingers, Discord's nightgown and hat disappeared in a flash of white light, and he floated on his back to the chair Luna had been sitting in, crossing his legs in a ladylike fashion and snapping his fingers once more, a cup of tea appearing his hand.

"So, now, onto business then, ladies?" Discord said, raising the tea to his lips and taking a long sip, and while the tea was still in his mouth, he spoke again, his lips unmoving. "Now, what can I do you for?"

"Discord, we need you to investigate a strange occurrence in Appleoosa," Celestia said, approaching Discord. "There's somepony on the loose stealing life force from other ponies-"

With a sudden jolt, Discord sprayed his mouthful of tea out, directly into Luna's face. Luna held completely still, a look of complete pain and annoyance ingrained on her face as tea slowly dripped off of her face.

"Is it Tirek!" Discord shrieked, nearly falling out of his chair.

"No, it isn't Tirek," Celestia said. "It's a pony, but there's something strange about him… Something I can't put my finger on. Be careful, Discord."

Discord jumped up from the chair, standing as straight as possible before mock saluting.

"Oui, mon capitaine!" Discord replied before snapping his fingers and vanishing in a flash of white light.

The room was silent for a few seconds, until Luna began to head towards the doorway into the rest of the castle.

"I need a bath."


	4. Chapter 3: Discord and DIO

**Chapter Three: Discord and DIO**

DIO stood atop a bluff overlooking a long stretch of orchards in the valley below. There must have been nearly a hundred trees, stretching for nearly a mile, all except for a small pathway down the center where the grass had been pounded down by heavy hoofsteps of some sort of large animal. The orchard continued onwards as far as the eye could see until it stopped at the banks of a large river that cut its way through the valley. On the other side of this massive river was a series of desert badlands that continued on past the horizon.

DIO leaned on his back legs, flexing his muscles and releasing. He was growing stronger, but he was still a long way from the basic vampiric strength he had obtained from donning the stone mask in 1888. He had drained seven ponies so far, and he had only awakened just over an hour ago. He was reminded of the Windknight's Lot, back when he had first ascended. The feeling of power as he drained the first resident of the tiny hamlet. It was a power rush unequalled.

He chuckled to himself yet again. It was childsplay. These ponies were too carefree and too easy going for their own good. He had ended seven of their lives, and no one in Appleoosa had noticed. At this rate, DIO would clean out the entire city before any of its citizens realized it. Perhaps the secret lay with what he did with the bodies when he was done with them: he drug each one of them back into the shack where he had awoken that night. It was during one of these trips that he had found it. A relic of his past life, a gift that had been given to him by Enya, the old hag who had been his confidante since his Stand first manifested. He had no idea how the artifact had come with him into this strange world of horses, but he had picked it up and tucked it into his clothing. He had taken the clothes off of one of the ponies he had drained. They seemed to fit, as all the ponies he had absorbed seemed to wear the same size. He now wore a pair of golden western boots with spurs, a pair of orange chaps, a black shirt, and a loose fitting orange jacket. Now that he thought about it, the outfit was very similar to the one he had been wearing when Jotaro defeated him. This kept getting weirder and weirder. DIO took a deep breath, turning and heading back towards town. It would be dawn in a few hours, and that would be a true problem for his body.

As he walked back towards Appleoosa, he could sense a presence. It was a bizarre sixth sense sort of feeling: the feeling of eyes digging into his neck. He couldn't quite feel any malice coming from the gaze, but he knew it was there all the same. He came to a halt, his boots kicking up dust with the sudden stop, and he turned his head to the right to look over his shoulder. Standing stock still in the middle of the emptiness around him was a single cactus, its arms spread wide and curved upwards towards the sky. DIO turned around, approaching the cactus with an expressionless look on his face.

 _Was there someone hiding behind this cactus?_ he thought to himself, coming to a stop just about a foot from the cactus. He slowly raised his right foreleg, raising it above his head. If there was someone there, he'd just plow straight through the cactus and be done with them. In one quick strike, he pierced the body of the cactus, going up to his shoulder in the plant, his hoof exiting the other side. He twisted his foreleg slightly, pulling it back out as water poured down his foreleg. He glanced down at his leg where, right above the hoof, there were almost a dozen cactus needles embedded in his skin. With a brief flex of his muscles, DIO shot all of the needles out simultaneously, where they flew through the night air and out into the darkness. Peering through the hoof-sized hole in the cactus, he scanned the ground behind for any sign of a body or of anyone hiding behind it. Seeing nothing, DIO smirked, preparing to head back to the town.

"Howdy, pilgrim," came a voice from behind the cactus.

DIO froze. It wasn't possible. He had punched clear through the cactus and ensured that there was no one hiding behind it. He approached the cactus once more, looking around it quickly, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Behind you, pard'ner," came the voice again, but this time, from the darkness behind him.

DIO quickly spun around, scanning the darkness for the source of the voice, and in a small flash of orange sparks, he spotted the speaker. It was a strangely shaped figure, illuminated only by the light of what appeared to be a cigar. With a snap of the figure's fingers, a Georgian era lamp post appeared, and with another snap, the candle inside illuminating, casting light across the field. The figure was a strange amalgam of different animals including a horse, a lizard, a lion, and many other animals. It stood upright and wore a western duster and red bandana around its neck. On its head was a wide-brimmed Stetson, and in the corner of his mouth was a long, brown cigar, then end lit and casting embers into the night sky. DIO was surprised at the appearance of the strange creature, but he cast aside this surprise in a few moments. His consciousness was inside the body of a yellow pony. Anything could exist in this strange land. And it's strange powers… Was it a Stand user? This could turn out badly for DIO. He had always had an advantage on the Joestar Party because he knew their abilities. He would have to play this smart and try to land a quick strike on the being before it had a chance to attack him.

"What do you want, creature," DIO said boldly, taking a defensive stance.

At this, the amalgam pushed off of the large boulder it was leaning on, slowly approaching DIO, taking a puff from the cigar in its strange one-toothed mouth.

"Pilgrim, you've been causing a lot of trouble 'round here," it said, returning the cigar to its mouth. "We've taken a real notice to you."

 _We?_ DIO thought. _There are more of this abomination?_

"It's too bad, really," the creature said, tossing the cigar into the night, where it vanished in a flash of white light. "If you had appeared a few years earlier, we might not have known how to stop you. But we defeated someone with powers very similar to yours a few years back. So now, stopping you will be a breeze."

With another snap of its lion paw, the monster's western clothing disappeared. DIO watched intently, still not moving a muscle, but his mane had begun to billow in the night air once again.

"Tell me," DIO spoke. "Your Stand. Where did you get it?"

The creature paused at this, looking at DIO in confusion.

"Stand?" it questioned. "What do you mean."

"Your ability," DIO turned his head to face him. "It's a manifestation of your will. You must have been struck by a Stand arrow at some point in your life."

"This isn't any 'Stand,'" it laughed. "I am Discord, the Master of Chaos."

DIO smirked now. So this Discord _wasn't_ a Stand user. This was perfect. He flexed his muscles again, testing his strength. In just the short amount of time since the encounter with Discord began, the blood of the seven ponies had further mingled with his own essence, and he had grown significantly stronger. Perhaps he was strong enough now…

With a quick kickoff, DIO took to the air, hovering a few feet off of the ground. Dust trailed off of his boots, falling to the ground below, and he began to chuckle to himself.

"Discord, is it?" DIO said, leaning backwards and floating on his back. "I will tell you this: Stands are the most powerful of all abilities ever seen. Those with strong mental fortitude command the strongest Stands of all, and each Stand has its own ability that makes it unique."

Discord watched as DIO continued to hover off of the ground, floating slightly further away, until there were just about ten yards between them. It was only then that DIO stopped, hovering just a few inches off of the ground and righting himself. Discord was unimpressed, mock checking the nails on his lizard hand.

"Oh, yes, I'm _so_ impressed," Discord said sarcastically. "You can fly even though you're not a pegasus and you can use some sort of magic even though you're not a unicorn."

DIO didn't move a muscle, merely smirking at the insult. This was right where he wanted to be: the perfect distance. Now, he just had to incite Discord to act.

"Have you finished this tirade of yours?" DIO groaned. "If you don't mind, I have an "Equestria" to dominate."

Suddenly, Discord struck an oddly over dramatic pose, sticking out his back leg and leaning on it, pointing directly to DIO while narrowing his eyes. DIO laughed on the inside. _What kind of idiot strikes a pose right before activating their power?_ he thought, before another thought struck him. _I can't think about that. I have to focus. This is going to be damn tough_.

"Now, see _friend_ ," Discord said in a low voice. "I've told you once already that I'm here to stop you, so I can't allow you to do any of that. You're coming back to Canterlot with me so the Princesses can send you to Tartarus or whatever they want to do with you."

"And you?" DIO wondered aloud. "What happens to you? Are you their mere pawn? Your power must be several times as powerful as theirs, so why should you act as their errand boy?"

Discord was silent for a moment, but he suddenly shook the thoughts in his mind away.

"Nice try, but it won't work," he pointed out. "The entity we stopped a few years back used that on me, but it won't work this time. I've learned my lesson."

"A shame," DIO muttered.

"And now, DIO," Discord said, snapping his fingers. "Your time is up!"

DIO was caught off guard by Discord's sudden use of his name. _How does he know my name? Did I say it earlier? No, I didn't. Can he read minds? Does he know!?_

With a sudden flash of white light, a large cage appeared around DIO, it's metal barred door standing open, but in a millisecond, the heavy iron door began to swing closed. DIO focused as hard as he could. It was now or never.

As Discord watched the bars of the cage slam shut, the cage shot backwards several yards, where it slammed into the ground, showering Discord in dirt and dust. The draconequus felt a sense of relief wash over him at completing his task. This DIO would have been bad news had he not been captured so early in his power growth spurt. He could have drained countless ponies and become so strong that he could even challenge Princess Celestia and likely win. Discord sighed in relief, approaching the cage to collect the evil pony within. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, his jaw dropping. As the dust from the cage's landing settled, he could see plain as day that the cage was empty.

"What was it you said earlier, Discord?" came a voice from behind him. "'Behind you, pard'ner?'"

Discord whipped around quickly, where he saw DIO hovering just a few feet behind him, a smirk even wider than before dominating his face. Panic washed over Discord. How had DIO gotten so close to him? Was this the "Stand" that he spoke of earlier?

In a sudden flash, DIO flung open his coat, revealing a thin, long object strapped to his side, and he quickly withdrew it, thrusting it at Discord before he had a chance to dodge or react at all. The object pierced his chest, just above the heart, and he gasped as pain like fire burned through his center. He tried to breath, but blood filled his lungs and he began to sputter and cough, falling to the ground, dust flying up from the point of impact. With one quick twist and a pull, DIO retrieved the object he had thrust into Discord, and as his vision began to blur, Discord could see what the object was: a wide-pointed golden arrow.

DIO flicked his wrist hard, shaking off all of Discord's blood that was still on the Stand arrow before returning it to the inside of his coat. As he watched the writhing Discord on the ground below him, he slowly began to chuckle, his cold confidence returning to him. There was nothing in the world that could touch him anymore.「THE WORLD」had returned to him, and though he had only been able to stop time for just a fraction of a second, it had been enough time for him to dodge the closing door and propel himself off of the cage with his back hooves to get behind of Discord before the stopped time had elapsed.

"Well, Discord," DIO smiled, landing next to the dying Master of Chaos. "We'll see if you do end up with a Stand in the end. You see, that was a Stand arrow: a tool used by Stand users across time to give themselves their Stands. In order to receive a Stand, however, one must have a certain strength of will to be able to control it. Now, we will see if you have that strength."

As Discord continued to cough and fight for a breath of air, DIO lowered himself next to him, watching the life continue to drain from his mismatched eyes. In Discord's eyes, DIO could see fear and regret, but surprisingly, not a drop of anger or hatred. _Odd_ , he thought. _Any animal that was dying with their attacker this close to them would lash out in a last attempt to hurt the cause of their suffering. Why won't he attack? And most of all, why doesn't he feel any anger?_

With one last sputter, DIO watched Discord's eyes fully glaze over, and then, draconequus lay stock still, a final sigh exiting his lungs. After a few seconds, DIO stood up, shaking his head.

"A shame," he muttered, staring at the corpse of the late Discord. "He would have made an entertaining Stand user."

DIO knelt down next to Discord's body, extending his right foreleg over Discord's chest, ready to drink him dry, but before he could, the wind picked up once more. Slowly, Discord's body turned a light gray tint similar to the color of ash, and his body slowly began to turn to dust, each small piece catching the breeze and flying away towards the moon far into the distance. DIO watched his meal dissipate on the breeze, and he smirked. He should have known that a god like Discord wouldn't leave behind a body like any normal mortal. But that didn't matter now. It was obvious that the ruling body of Equestria had noticed his rising. He would have to find a new place to bide his time and grow stronger until he was ready to face them, and he knew the perfect place.

Several miles to the north of Appleoosa was a dark and dense forest that he had heard several ponies speak of with fear in their voices. Apparently, evil creatures lived within the shade of the canopy, and no one who entered ever returned. It was known only as the Everfree Forest. It sounded like the perfect place for a hiding spot.


End file.
